Tragedy of holidaymaker dad who died from alcohol poisoning

Sophie Arnold

A DAD, who died of alcohol poisoning in Bangkok on the first night of a holiday, had only decided days before to fly out.

Bolton Coroners’ Court heard how Peter Nicholson decided at the last minute that he was going to join his three friends in the Thai capital and booked a flight on May 30.

I just keep thinking why him, so many people go out and drink like that, you just don’t expect it

Peter’s sister Joanne

He arrived in the capital with a friend, Daniel Wilson, on May 31 in the early afternoon and met up with Michael Aspey, Michael Wareing and Christopher Bamber.

The 29-year-old, from Beech Hill, had a few drinks with them before heading off with Mr Wilson to spend the afternoon sightseeing. They later all met up again and spent the night drinking in bars around the Nana Plaza and on the Khao San Road.

The next morning he was found dead in his room at the Swan Inn Hotel by Mr Wilson.

The court heard that Mr Nicholson, an engineer, was not a heavy drinker normally but had drunk around 20 bottles of beer, shared three or four buckets of vodka mixed with either red bull or lemonade and had at least one shot of sambuca.

Consultant pathologist Stephen Wells carried out a post mortem on Mr Nicholson but said he was unable to ascertain a cause of death because a post mortem had previously been carried out in Thailand and the embalming chemicals used meant it was difficult to examine the organs.

He told the court, however, that notes from the Thai authorities said Mr Nicholson had 341mg of alcohol in his blood, more than four times the legal drink drive limit, and 452mg in his urine.

He said: “This is well within the toxicity range. The fatality range is something above 350 and it is very close to that. The higher level of alcohol in his urine suggests the level in his blood was also higher at one point.”

He concluded that from the evidence the inquest had heard, on the balance of probabilities, Mr Nicholson had died from acute alcohol toxicity.

Assistant coroner Alison Mutch that Mr Nicholson had “had drunk a significant amount” in the hours before his death and concluded that he died as a result of acute alcohol toxicity and that his death was accidental.

Paying tribute to Mr Nicholson, his sister Joanne said: “He was very outgoing, a great dad, brother, uncle and son. He was like a father figure to me, always looking after me even though I was older than him.

“He loved going to Thailand. He had loads of friends out there, almost like a another family. he would go out there whenever he could get away.

“I just keep thinking why him, so many people go out and drink like that, you just don’t expect it.”